Embodiments relate to system analysis, and in particular, to assessing a risk and/or cost of changing one system that is part of a landscape of interconnected systems.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Computer systems, including database systems, currently experience a high degree of interconnectivity with other systems. For example, an underlying database system may be connected with a number of different business applications (e.g., CRM, financials, procurement, logistics) that are present in overlying application layer(s).
Generally, it may become necessary to change the features of one such system (e.g. for upgraded performance, improved reliability) that is interconnected with others in the landscape. In a large landscape comprising many interconnected systems, however, the cumulative risk of a failure during the execution of changes escalates with the increasing connectedness of the systems and landscape size.
In particular, a change may comprise a group of independent events, where success of all singular event(s) is required within the landscape in order to make the overall change a success. Under these conditions, the combined probability for success quickly drops with a number of the events that are required to be combined.
Conventionally, in making such a change to one system the characteristics of a landscape comprising a set of interconnected systems, may not be subjected to systematic analysis by tools to assess/reduce a risk of changing a system within that landscape. Rather, such an analysis may typically be conducted manually in an intuitive and nonsystematic way, by human administrators based upon their individual experience.
Thus, there is a need for tools performing systematic analysis of characteristics of a landscape comprising a plurality of interconnected systems, with an eye toward providing an assessment of the risk and/or cost of changing one of those systems.